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D&D Adventure League

Yesterday we all saw the announcement from Wizards regarding the D&D Adventure League, which was very interesting. As my husband and I manage the Organized Play at our FLGS, any new developments in the Organized Play program affect us deeply. After reading it, I’ll admit I was a little excited. The indication of something akin to a “living campaign” with material for higher level play is very encouraging. Encounters sees a lot of turn-over in its players. Partly because players naturally bond and move on to form their own home groups, but also partly because Encounters perpetually cycles players through the first levels of play, which gets dull after a while. Players crave more challenging games.

The previous link about D&D Adventure League is a lot of fluff, but this link has some interesting insights to be gleaned.

“The redesigned kits support up to 20 players and four Dungeon Masters, and will include gameplay aids and new components like certificates for special items or awards, table tents, blank character sheets, and more. The adventure portion will be available as a complimentary PDF from Wizards.”

This is great. Traditionally 1 kit = 2 tables. That’s fine for most stores, but my FLGS’ Wednesday Encounters last night hosted 5 tables of 7 people each! We received 2 packets from WotC this season, but thankfully now all my DMs can have their own PDF of the module instead of sharing a hardcopy.

Additionally, if a single packet now supports 4 tables, that means smaller stores, which would normally get a single packet worth 2 tables, will be able to more easily encourage a third or fourth table if they so wish.

“D&D Expeditions play is intended for higher-level character play, either for experienced players or those that have completed the D&D Encounters portion of OP (…) Stores are encouraged to use these kits to support local convention events, and contact Wizards’ retail support team if they require more than one kit.”

Beyond the general Encounters info, this part is intriguing. I’m going to be interested in seeing how often these “Expeditions” are released. I can’t help but think that for areas that don’t have a lot convention events, stores will be able to run these as Game Day events or perhaps routinely, much like the old Lair Assault program, for more dedicated players (but with more roleplaying).

The ICv2 link doesn’t mention D&D Epics at all, but Wizards says those will be the big convention events.

Our first D&D Epics adventure will take place at Gen Con Indy this year. Entitled Corruption in Kryptgarden, it will be a massive, multi-table event that will shape the Tyranny of Dragons story and bring renown to those that experience it.